It’s taken a long time — and a lot of money — to assemble “The Avengers.” Marvel Studios began developing the superhero superfilm seven years ago. A screenwriter began work in 2007. The stars who played the eponymous characters from “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Thor” and the two “Iron Man” films — as well as a new “Hulk” — were brought together for the first time. Their salaries and, more importantly, the special effects that turn movies into spectacles led to a reported $220 million budget.
The result? “The Avengers” is an engaging-enough film. But with that kind of treasure, talent and time, you’d expect more — a lot more than this completely conventional action flick delivers.
| 2.5 out of 4 stars |
| » Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston |
| » Director: Joss Whedon |
| Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, and a mild drug reference |
| » Running time: 142 minutes |
“The Avengers” is slow to start, and slow to end. You feel every minute of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time.
Director Joss Whedon takes his time establishing the plot — which seems silly, given that it’s the same story we’ve seen in countless action films. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), “Thor’s” bad-sheep brother, steals the tesseract held by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D. The potential energy this cube holds makes it dangerous — and Loki plans to hand it over to the Other in exchange for an army of Chitauri with which Loki can conquer Earth.
“Freedom is life’s great lie,” Loki declares in one of his frequent purple-prosed disquisitions. The survival of humanity Scarlett Johansson in every sense — is at stake. So Fury brings out the big guns: The Avengers.
“You’re going to leave the future of the human race up to a handful of freaks?” someone asks Fury. It turns out to be a good question. Loki didn’t even need to come up with a plan to divide and conquer them; they do it on their own. What else would you expect when you put into a single room a huge egotist (Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man), an earnest patriot (Chris Evans’ Captain America), a demigod out of water (Chris Hemsworth’s Thor) and a genius with an anger-management problem (Mark Ruffalo, the new Hulk)?
Oh, wait: Marvel realized there wasn’t any eye candy in that group. So they’ve thrown into the mix the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), an agent, not a superhero.
You can predict how this by-the-books flick will go: Bad guy possesses item that will bring him immense power, good guys are assembled to stop him, good guys fight amongst themselves until a loss makes them realize who the real enemy is, right before a final fight that uses most of the film’s big budget.
Don’t expect it all to make sense, though. When Bruce Banner first turns into the Hulk here, he goes after the Black Widow, who’s been sympathetic to his plight. The next time he becomes big and green, he’s totally on Team Avenger, smashing only members of the alien army — with no indication of how he was tamed.
That showdown takes forever to unfold, too. Why did they bother? There’s nothing here we haven’t seen in any of the big summer flicks of the last few years. How many shots do we need of Thor taking his hammer to a collection of computer-generated creations?
Whedon would have done better to spend less time on the endlessly familiar action sequences and more time on the movie’s real strength: its humor. (He probably spends just enough time on shots of Johansson’s rear end.)
At first, it seems like Downey is going to get all the great lines. But every character is given his chance to shine. Let’s face it, this is a bizarre group of people to assemble. Of course there’d be rough-and-tumble hilarity. Thor wants a chance to talk Loki out of his delusions of grandeur and tells the team his brother can be redeemed. Black Widow points out how many people Loki has killed in just two days. “He’s adopted,” Thor deadpans in response.
But you can’t charge extra for 3-D tickets to a talkfest, I suppose.
